User Tools

Site Tools


what_kind_of_questions_should_we_ask_if_we_are_hiring_a_coach

Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

Link to this comparison view

Both sides previous revisionPrevious revision
Next revision
Previous revision
Next revisionBoth sides next revision
what_kind_of_questions_should_we_ask_if_we_are_hiring_a_coach [2019/05/21 07:02] – Refactored questions hpsamioswhat_kind_of_questions_should_we_ask_if_we_are_hiring_a_coach [2019/05/21 07:22] – Referenced existing page for quick fire round hpsamios
Line 25: Line 25:
   * ”You are Coaching in a multi-team situation and you have just completed their first joint planning event (ala PI Planning or Big Room Planning) which was regarded as successful for all concerned. What kinds of things are you looking for as a coach?” Looking for something beyond “help facilitate key collaboration ceremonies” to more focus on execution of the work (eg help get first feature / objective delivered to get into the habit), and preparation for the next joint planning event, retrospective, etc.   * ”You are Coaching in a multi-team situation and you have just completed their first joint planning event (ala PI Planning or Big Room Planning) which was regarded as successful for all concerned. What kinds of things are you looking for as a coach?” Looking for something beyond “help facilitate key collaboration ceremonies” to more focus on execution of the work (eg help get first feature / objective delivered to get into the habit), and preparation for the next joint planning event, retrospective, etc.
   * Bonus question: “What was the last book you read?” Coaches need to be constantly learning. Books, blogs, etc are an indicator of this.   * Bonus question: “What was the last book you read?” Coaches need to be constantly learning. Books, blogs, etc are an indicator of this.
- 
  
 ====== What Questions Should We Ask Prospective Transformational Coaches?====== ====== What Questions Should We Ask Prospective Transformational Coaches?======
Line 34: Line 33:
   * "Describe a situation where you are working with a leadership group that are at odds over something - perhaps there is a discussion about the future of the agile rollout and people in the room are trying to see 'where they will end up' which is effecting the decisions. How did you facilitate?" Looking for decision where facilitation lead to approach that people agreed to try. "How did you clarify next steps?" is a possible follow on question - trying to avoid different interpretations of "the decision".   * "Describe a situation where you are working with a leadership group that are at odds over something - perhaps there is a discussion about the future of the agile rollout and people in the room are trying to see 'where they will end up' which is effecting the decisions. How did you facilitate?" Looking for decision where facilitation lead to approach that people agreed to try. "How did you clarify next steps?" is a possible follow on question - trying to avoid different interpretations of "the decision".
   * "What was the last organizational / coaching experiment you ran and what was the result?" Looking for a degree of comfort in risk taking, and understanding of how an experiment works (PDCA applied to the subject at hand). You will sometimes see people take a while to answer this which implies that they have not really been thinking about their coaching in this way.   * "What was the last organizational / coaching experiment you ran and what was the result?" Looking for a degree of comfort in risk taking, and understanding of how an experiment works (PDCA applied to the subject at hand). You will sometimes see people take a while to answer this which implies that they have not really been thinking about their coaching in this way.
-  * "If you were to hire a coach, what would you look for?" Looking for discussion more about characteristics, personality and approach. For example, "someone who is comfortable working with the CIO in the morning, and a team in the afternoon."+  * "If you were to hire a coach, what would you look for and how would you prioritize the skills / values"Looking for discussion more about characteristics, personality and approach. For example, "someone who is comfortable working with the CIO in the morning, and a team in the afternoon." Also looking for some specific discussion around ability to manage client expectations, approach to work yourself out of a job, ability to find where people are at in client organization and start from there, and so on. Values and philosophy are part of this - see [[coaching_values_and_principles|Coaches Values and Principles]] for some thinking.
   * "The organization you are working with has read a lot about agile and are working to form teams. They understand the idea of a "two pizza team" but are struggling to form these teams in all cases. How would you convince the organization that having large teams is OK?" (Looking for a "non-religious" discussion of a principle that a lot of people think is basic. Aim is to focus on what works for the business. Typically interested in more thought out approaches, than just following standard thinking. Note: this might not be what you want in your transformation - it has been important in some I've worked. And this might be a useful type of question to ask of all coaches).   * "The organization you are working with has read a lot about agile and are working to form teams. They understand the idea of a "two pizza team" but are struggling to form these teams in all cases. How would you convince the organization that having large teams is OK?" (Looking for a "non-religious" discussion of a principle that a lot of people think is basic. Aim is to focus on what works for the business. Typically interested in more thought out approaches, than just following standard thinking. Note: this might not be what you want in your transformation - it has been important in some I've worked. And this might be a useful type of question to ask of all coaches).
   * "You are about to facilitate a leadership workshop, involving 20 people of the extended leadership team. If I were to walk into the room where you are facilitating, what would I see? How would you conduct a session like this?" Looking for an environment set up for collaboration and joint decision making. Walls marked of with things like "Meeting Objectives", "Working Agreements", "Parking Lot", "Retrospective", Kanban version marked "Agenda". Room set up so that it is collaborative, seating around tables for example rather than classroom style. Perhaps a mention of a co-facilitator to pair with. Perhaps a mention of preparation work required to get there. Perhaps a discussion about engaging people in activities as quickly as possible, minimal use of PowerPoint and so on.   * "You are about to facilitate a leadership workshop, involving 20 people of the extended leadership team. If I were to walk into the room where you are facilitating, what would I see? How would you conduct a session like this?" Looking for an environment set up for collaboration and joint decision making. Walls marked of with things like "Meeting Objectives", "Working Agreements", "Parking Lot", "Retrospective", Kanban version marked "Agenda". Room set up so that it is collaborative, seating around tables for example rather than classroom style. Perhaps a mention of a co-facilitator to pair with. Perhaps a mention of preparation work required to get there. Perhaps a discussion about engaging people in activities as quickly as possible, minimal use of PowerPoint and so on.
Line 44: Line 43:
 The way it works is that you introduce the concept by saying “I want to understand where some of your expertise lies and rather than ask detailed questions about everything, will just do a quick buzzer round. The way this works is that I’ll say something like ‘what does USA stand for, and you’ll say ...” and hopefully they’ll say “United States of America”. “Good. Sometimes questions will be fill in the blank type questions. Ready? The way it works is that you introduce the concept by saying “I want to understand where some of your expertise lies and rather than ask detailed questions about everything, will just do a quick buzzer round. The way this works is that I’ll say something like ‘what does USA stand for, and you’ll say ...” and hopefully they’ll say “United States of America”. “Good. Sometimes questions will be fill in the blank type questions. Ready?
  
-Examples I’ve used:+{{page>what_are_some_good_quick_fire_round_questions_we_can_ask_to_assess_agile_knowledge#Warm Up Questions&noindent&notags&noeditbutton&nouser&nomdate&nodate}}
  
-  * INVEST +{{page>what_are_some_good_quick_fire_round_questions_we_can_ask_to_assess_agile_knowledge#Lean Agile Questions&noindent&notags&noeditbutton&nouser&nomdate&nodate}}
-  * The 3 C’s of a User Story +
-  * SAFe +
-  * LeSS +
-  * Pivot or ______ +
-  * WIP +
-  * ATDD +
-  * WSJF +
-  * ART +
-  * MVP +
-  * CI/CD+
  
 ====== Some Notes on the Interview Process ====== ====== Some Notes on the Interview Process ======
Line 78: Line 67:
  
 {{tag>Consultant Tools Role Coach FAQ}} {{tag>Consultant Tools Role Coach FAQ}}
- 
  
/home/hpsamios/hanssamios.com/dokuwiki/data/pages/what_kind_of_questions_should_we_ask_if_we_are_hiring_a_coach.txt · Last modified: 2021/09/21 09:03 by hans